These images offer a fascinating glimpse at life inside the Merseyside jail where inmates can wear their own clothes, have phones in their cells and care for birds of prey.

The ECHO was allowed a rare tour of HMP Altcourse after inspectors praised the Category B prison for huge improvements over recent years.

Violence, self-harm and drug taking has all been reduced behind the walls of the Fazakerley-based complex - once known as the UK’s most violent prison.

A prisons watchdog today paid tribute to Altcourse, crediting it for “bucking the trend” of rising trouble at jails of a similar size.

An unannounced inspection, held in November, found there had been 157 assaults in the six months before the visit - many linked to the introduction of the smoking ban last September - and a killing since they had last toured in the summer of 2014.

General view of the Family wing at G4S managed HMP Altcourse (Image: Anthony Devlin/G4S)

But the attack figures were down on previous years and Chief Inspector of Prisons, Peter Clarke, said: “While it still faced significant challenges around safety, the downward trend in violence and anti-social behaviour was highly creditable.”

A key area of success was in the work done to tackle new psychoactive drugs, including Spice.

Mr Williams told the ECHO he believed offering prisoners hope was crucial to their rehabilitation.

Asked to explain the role of a prison in 2018, he said: “Our biggest role is to be giving prisoners hope that they can turn their lives around and that we can give them the skills to get them back into the community.

“They are never going back on a solid, level footing with Joe Public because they have got a criminal record.

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“But we can give them the best chance - and that is about having a place to live, a job if possible, skills if they want to get a job and contact with their families during that period - so if there are any issues, when they go out all of those issue have been resolved.

“It’s about them having the hope and confidence to take their opportunities, that it is a worthwhile venture for them but the ball is still in their court. They have to break away from whatever they are doing and start on that fresh path.”

With this in mind, Mr Williams said work was ongoing to tackle what inspectors labelled a “serious problems with offender management and aspects of public protection work”.

Revealing his pride at the progress made since 2014, he added: “Despite facing some significant challenges in recent months, including going smoke free in September 2017, I am heartened to see inspectors reflect the determination and commitment to safety at Altcourse, which is demonstrated by the whole team.”

Praising the report, Mr Clarke concluded: “The director and his team were providing strong leadership, enabling a highly positive staff culture and delivering good outcomes in many key areas.

“Overall, Altcourse showed that a local prison can provide fundamentally decent treatment and conditions for prisoners, despite facing many of the same challenges as the rest of the prison service. There was much here from which others could learn.”